Bill Belichick Previews Senior Day Matchup Against Duke

North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick addressed the media on Wednesday at the Kenan Football Center. He previewed the Senior Day matchup against Duke and responded to lingering questions following UNC's loss to Wake Forest.

The full video of the press conference is below.

Opening Statement from the Presser

Sep 16, 2023; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels defensive back Will Hardy (31) reacts in the second quarter at Kenan Memorial Stadium. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

First of all, I want to just take a few minutes to recognize our senior class, it’ll be the last home game, and even though I’ve only been here a year, I really appreciate what that group has done for the entire program and certainly for this year.

They know the time I spent with them, going back to the spring training camp and during the season, it’s a group that’s mixed with players who have been here for their career, but also players who have come in for their final year of eligibility…

Collectively, some of them are captains. Obviously, a lot of them aren’t, but as a whole, they’ve given us a lot of leadership, a lot of experience, not just in football, but off the field and setting a good example for our younger players and some of our new players, whether it be academics or things related to football, community service, so forth. It’s really been a good group.”

Nov 8, 2025; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; Duke Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz watches from the sideline as they take on the UConn Huskies at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

For Duke, I mean, obviously a big rivalry game here for us. This game means a lot to people in Carolina, people at UNC, people at Duke, obviously a big division here, and that’s what makes these games exciting and fun and super competitive. So everybody knows each other pretty well, and looking forward to being a participant in this event.

I have a ton of respect for Manny (Diaz)… I’ve learned a lot from spending time with him, and talking football with him on multiple occasions when he was at Miami as a defensive coordinator, when he coached at Penn State, and even a little bit at Duke last year, one of my former coaches is there, worked on his defensive staff for him at Penn State. So I have a lot of familiarity with how he coaches, the job he does, and he’s an excellent coach…

Nov 8, 2025; East Hartford, Connecticut, USA; Duke Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz on the field before the start of the game against the UConn Huskies at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Watching them compete is impressive. Have a lot of respect for him. (Darian) Mensah, I saw him play in person last year. Was super impressed with him. This guy’s a really, really good quarterback. I think he’s the best quarterback we faced, and we faced some good quarterbacks, but this guy really reminds me of an NFL quarterback.

He’s got great presence in the pocket. He does an excellent job of seeing coverages, seeing receivers. He’s very accurate down the field, good throwing mechanics. He can certainly run and get out of trouble and avoid the rush and extend plays. But he’s not out there running around trying to be a running back… they got a good group of receivers, good returners. So the receivers are also the returners and have a solid running game too.

So they’re an explosive team offensively and in the kicking game, with their return game. Defensively, they have a very good front. Those guys are very disruptive up front, starting with (Wesley) Williams, but it’s really all of them.

They do a good job of causing negative plays, putting pressure on the quarterback. They’re a hard group to handle. They can definitely ruin the game with strip sacks, batted balls, tackles for loss, things like that. So, handling them is every team’s challenge when you play Duke; certainly, that’ll be the case for us on Saturday.

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